Unimak Island

Four people were on board F/V Pacific Sounder when she got stuck on the western shore of Unimak Island — between Unalaska and the Alaska Peninsula — on the morning of June 17. The Pacific Sounder hailed a MAYDAY call at 10:43 Friday morning but the crew waited three hours before they were rescued. Eventually, the Good Samaritan boat, the Polar Sea, arrived and found the crew unharmed.

Fishermen in the Bering Sea reported spotting at least two North Pacific right whales about 80 miles from Unalaska earlier this month. Scientists say it's likely the first visual evidence of the highly endangered whales feeding in the Bering Sea in winter, and they’re urging fishing boats in the area to exercise caution.

From mid-June to mid-October, Dan Binde of Minnesota hiked from Yakutat, in the northern reaches of Alaska's Inside Passage, across the Alaska Peninsula,…